This year, several students from St. Charles East and St. Charles North got the opportunity to experience being immersed in a different country and culture through the German American Partnership Program (GAPP). This program allowed them to travel to Germany for the biennial excursion of staying in Hamburg and Cologne for three weeks in the summer.
The GAPP is the program that East and North use for the exchange. It was founded in 1972 and is the largest bilateral exchange program with a network of 775 schools worldwide. The school that East and North partners with is Sankt Ansgar Schule. St. Charles students stay with families from that school in the summer, and in the fall, those German students come to St. Charles to stay for a few weeks.
While in Germany, there were a lot of things to experience. Students were able to see Hamburg, the Baltic Sea and the Schwerin Castle. In Cologne, they visited the Cologne Cathedral. They also went on tours, went to restaurants and experienced what school is like in Germany, as they went with their exchange partners to school every day while in Hamburg.
“I would do it again because it’s a great way to see different cultures and how you interact with one another and build a greater understanding of you as a person,” explained Zoe Hermann who travelled to Germany.
When the students from Germany came here, they got to experience just as many things as well. “When my exchange partner came to the US, we went to Chicago and its museums, explored St. Charles, went to football games and did fun Halloween stuff like going to a haunted house. In general, we were doing something or going somewhere every day,” said Junior Martyna Sawicka.
The German exchange program is a great opportunity for enhancing your language skills. “The exchange program is incredibly important because it takes language learning beyond the classroom and brings it to life in a way that most students describe as life-changing. It allows students to practice speaking in real situations, experience German culture firsthand and truly understand how the language is used day-to-day. It also helps build confidence, independence and cultural awareness—which are things you can’t fully learn from a textbook,” said East German teacher Shelby Ciosek.
Junior Martyna Sawicka stated, “I would 100% recommend any student learning German to consider going on the exchange program if they can! It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience and definitely something that I’ll look back on and miss.”
Overall, the program this year was very successful. Many students were able to improve their language skills, experience new things and make new friends. If you are taking German, maybe consider trying it out! It is a very valuable experience that isn’t available for everyone.
